Physics and cosmology in an inhomogeneous Universe

Astronomical observations reveal hierarchical structures in the Universe, from galaxies, groups of galaxies, clusters and superclusters, to filaments and voids. On the largest scales it seems that some kind of statistical homogeneity can be observed. As a result, modern cosmological models are based on spatially homogeneous and isotropic solutions of the Einstein equations, and the evolution of the universe is approximated by the Friedmann equations. In parallel to standard h...

In this thesis we investigate cosmological models more general than the isotropic and homogeneous Friedmann-Lemaitre models. We focus on cosmologies with one spatial degree of freedom, whose matter content consists of a perfect fluid and the cosmological constant. We formulate the Einstein field equations as a system of quasilinear first order partial differential equations, using scale-invariant variables. The primary goal is to study the dynamics in the two asymptotic reg...

Cosmology is built on a relativistic understanding of gravity, where the geometry of the Universe is dynamically determined by matter and energy. In the cosmological concordance model, gravity is described by General Relativity, and it is assumed that on large scales the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic. These fundamental principles should be tested. In this thesis, we explore the implications of breaking them. In order to understand possible modifications to gravity o...

In this letter, we outline an inhomogeneous model of the Big Bang cosmology. For the inhomogeneous spacetime used here, the universe originates in the infinite past as the one dominated by vacuum energy and ends in the infinite future as the one consisting of "hot and relativistic" matter. The spatial distribution of matter in the considered inhomogeneous spacetime is {\em arbitrary}. Hence, observed structures can arise in this cosmology from suitable "initial" density contr...

Do current observational data confirm the assumptions of the cosmological principle, or is there statistical evidence for deviations from spatial homogeneity on large scales? To address these questions, we developed a flexible framework based on spherically symmetric, but radially inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) models with synchronous Big Bang. We expanded the (local) matter density profile in terms of flexible interpolation schemes and orthonormal polynomials. A M...

In this paper we study a class of inhomogeneous cosmological models which is a modified version of what is usually called the Lema\^itre-Tolman model. We assume that we have a space with 2-dimensional locally homogeneous spacelike surfaces. In addition we assume they are compact. Classically we investigate both homogeneous and inhomogeneous spacetimes which this model describe. For instance one is a quotient of the AdS$_4$ space which resembles the BTZ black hole in AdS$_3$. ...

This paper and the others in the series challenge the standard model of the effects of gravitational lensing on observations at large distances. We show that due to the cumulative effect of lensing, areas corresponding to an observed solid angle can be quite different than would be estimated from the corresponding Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre model, even when averaged over large angular scales. This paper concentrates on the specific example of spherically symmetric but spatially ...

In this talk we would like to review recent results on non-singular cosmological models. It has been recently shown that among stiff perfect fluid inhomogeneous spacetimes the absence of singularities is more common than it was expected in the literature. We would like to generalize these results and apply them to other matter sources.

The dimming of Type Ia supernovae could be the result of Hubble-scale inhomogeneity in the matter and spatial curvature, rather than signaling the presence of a dark energy component. A key challenge for such models is to fit the detailed spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We present a detailed discussion of the small-scale CMB in an inhomogeneous universe, focusing on spherically symmetric `void' models. We allow for the dynamical effects of radiation while a...

It is the common consensus that the expansion of a universe always slows down if the gravity provided by the energy sources therein is attractive and accordingly one needs to invoke dark energy as a source of anti-gravity for understanding the cosmic acceleration. To examine this point we find counter-examples for a spherically symmetric dust fluid described by the Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solution without singularity. Thus, the validity of this naive consensus is indeed doubtfu...